a ghost maybe
by hulklinging
Summary: The Amis work as actors in a haunted house. It's Courfeyrac's favorite time of the year.


It is arguably Courfeyrac's favorite day of the year.

Well, Halloween takes the number one spot, of course. But nothing else really beats-

"Roamer training! Hello!" he says, with no small amount of glee, as he walks into the big room.

His excitement has caused him to arrive pretty dang early, which earns him an eyeroll from the only other occupant of the room, who is seated at the long conference table.

"Musichetta! Light of my life, ghoul of my affections..."

"Good morning, Courfeyrac," Her voice is fond, softening the exasperated look she is shooting him. "How're you?"

"Today? Magnificent." He peeks over her shoulder, trying to see what's on the papers in front of her. "Is that a full cast list? Everyone's being really tightlipped, which is so not fair."

Musichetta slides the attendance sheet under one of the training booklets oh so casually. "You only have to wait another... thirty minutes." He whines, and she has a laugh at his expense. "Well, it's your fault for being so early."

"I was excited!"

The door opens, and Courfeyrac spins around. A head of dishevelled hair and wide eyes peeks around the corner. It's not someone Courfeyrac recognizes, but that doesn't stop a grin from spreading across his face.

"Uh, hello," says the boy. "Is this Fright Night training?"

"Roamer training? Yeah! Congrats!" Courfeyrac bounces over to him. "I'm Courfeyrac. This is my third year. Who are you playing?"

"Uh," he says, and behind him, Musichetta laughs.

"Sorry, Courfeyrac doesn't get out much. I'm Musichetta, I'm one of the house supervisors, and I will be doing your training today."

"Nice to meet you both." The boy smiles nervously. Oh no, Courfeyrac thinks. He's cute. And shy. "I'm Marius Pontmercy. I'm the demon, I think. This is my first year..."

Musichetta makes a hum of agreement, checking Marius off her list. Courfeyrac grabs Marius's hands, beaming.

"You're my demon? Cool, cool! You are totally different from our last Demon. This is excellent." He pulls Marius's hands to his chest. "Marius, we are going to get along just great. Which is good, because-" He pauses. For dramatic effect, of course. "-I am your witch."

Marius is bright red.

"I have no idea what that means."

"What Courfeyrac is trying to express is that he's your roaming partner this season." Musichetta is fluent in both Fright Nights lingo and Courfeyrac-speak. "And even though he tends to act like a toddler on speed, he's a great partner, especially for a first year like you."

"Oh!" And now Marius is smiling full tilt at Courfeyrac. What a cute face. It's going to be a good October. "That's great." And Courfeyrac is pleased to note that the boy's posture looks a little more relaxed.

"Don't worry, I'm an expert." He pitches his voice down, adopts a lofty tone. "I will take the child under my wing. Treat him like one of my own."

"Please don't have any of your own," Musichetta mutters dryly. "The world cannot handle it."

Courfeyrac laughs. The door opens and Courfeyrac hears the ukulele before he sees anyone. His heart does a little flutter, and his hands go to check his hair, betraying his nerves. As much as he loves his fellow haunters, he hasn't actually seen many of them since last year. They still talk online, but it's been a crazy year, across the board. Courfeyrac had run into Jehan very briefly at a concert, but it had been more of a let's-hug-longer-than-strictly-normal-and-then-get-pulled-away-by-our-respective-friend-groups moment.

"The clowns have arrived!" says a low, booming voice that is definitely not Jehan. Then they round the corner, and Courfeyrac claps. Jehan has indeed arrived, strumming tunelessly on their ukulele. They are also perched on the shoulders of a large smiling man who looks vaguely familiar.

"How did you get through the door?" Nothing surprises Musichetta. She is ageless in her actor's wisdom.

"We ducked!" responds Jehan. They pass the ukulele down to their friend, who continues to play it without missing a beat and clambers down to solid ground. The minute they are, they run at Courfeyrac, who gives them a huge hug.

"Courfeyrac! I found my clown partner!"

"I can see that!" They pull apart, and Courfeyrac ruffles Jehan's hair. "I like the new look!"

Last year, Jehan had been firetruck red. This year, their hair is more like an oil slick, catching different colours at different angles. It is also significantly shorter, barely brushing their shoulders. They make a face. "That's a story. I'll tell you later, okay?" Then they turn to Marius. "I'm Jehan! I'm one of the clown roamers."

"Marius. I'm... the demon? With Courfeyrac."

"You're in Darkness this year?" Jehan raises an eyebrow at him. "That's new and exciting."

"Don't worry, I'll say hello to all the skulls for you," Courfeyrac promises. Jehan's been a clown for a few years now, but their first year they were in Darkness, the house full of demons and creatures of the dark. Although the clowns had stolen their heart, they were still protective over their first house. Courfeyrac had never been in the same house twice, so he loves them all equally. He is an equal-opportunity spook.

"Oh yes! This is Bahorel." The other clown waves at them all with a grin. "He was security last year! He recognized my ukulele on the bus."

"Which is less stalkerish than it sounds, I swear."

Courfeyrac approves of Bahorel, stalkerish or no. Jehan had a... problematic partner last year, and with their appearance alone they got a lot of harassment. Courfeyrac worried about them, although he'd never tell Jehan that. But Bahorel is large and smiley and if Jehan is already talking to him within an hour of them meeting, then that's a rare occurrence indeed. They'll be good together. And Bahorel will watch out for them.

They still have ten minutes before they're supposed to start, but a bus must have just pulled up, because the group walking in now is a big one. Courfeyrac gets swept up in them, giving Combeferre a hug, beaming at Enjolras, shaking hands or giving a wave to everyone, whether he knows them or not. They're all going to be friends, whether or not they're aware of it yet.

By the time he's finished saying hello, Musichetta is standing, waiting for them to notice her. They all quiet down pretty quick. Musichetta might be behind the scenes now, but she still carries the presence of an actor who can command attention without saying a word. Courfeyrac wants to be her when he grows up. Although he'd never say that out loud, because she would probably take that as him calling her grown up. Which she wouldn't like.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome to Fright Nights' roamer training. For some of you, this is all going to be old news, and for some of you, this is your first season with us. Let's all take a moment to remember how nervous we were, our first year, and make sure to pay attention and not be distracting out of respect for our first years, okay?" There are a few nods. "I'm Musichetta. I'll be training you today, and I'm also the Asylum house supervisor." She holds up a hand. "For the interest of time, let's hold onto all the arguments about how ableist my house is on principle until after training." That gets a laugh from some of them. Courfeyrac looks over at Enjolras, who looks like he's barely keeping his mouth shut. He wasn't the only one involved in the discussion last time, but he was the loudest. They'd argued back and forth for almost twenty minutes before they'd all realized they were all arguing pretty much the same points. Yes, Asylum was not the best theme for a house. Yes, it's been around for ages and isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Yes, this is problematic and yes, Musichetta knows this and no, she doesn't want to hear about it anymore.

"Five bucks Enjolras starts at least three fights over Asylum throughout the season," Courfeyrac whispers to Jehan, next to him. Jehan has to hold back a snicker.

"That's a given. No bet."

Musichetta raises an eyebrow at them, and Courfeyrac schools his face into an expression of pure innocence. She continues. "Even if I'm not your supervisor, I expect you to show me the same amount of respect that you will show your house supervisor. We all work together. And we get enough from the guests, I don't want to have to deal with any trouble from you all on top of that. Got it?"

A chorus of 'yes'. Courfeyrac gets in a "Yes, ma'am!" which earns him another eyeroll.

"So, we're going to go over basic park stuff, what's expected of you all as employees, then we'll go into safety stuff, and then at the end we'll talk characters and the actual work." She gestures to the table in front of her. "Let's get started."

Courfeyrac is sure that she's not making them do an intro circle just to bug him. He's dying to know who is playing who, compare the list to the list of guesses in his head. Although this does give him a chance to edit those guesses, as he looks around the table. It looks like all of his favourite people are back, which is good. Musichetta makes them each read a paragraph of the employee manual out loud, which means he gets to space out until it's his turn to read. It's all stuff he knows, about attendance, about hours, about the generic safety things like evacuation spaces and fire alarms. Boring, and stuff he already knows. So he stares around the table instead.

Bossuet is back, and Courfeyrac would guess that he's in Musichetta's house again. Last year, he had managed to win for most time spent in first aid without ever actually getting hit by a guest (although his roaming partner did manage to brain him with a prop hammer. That had been legitimately scary). He was super positive about it, though. Said the bruises and bandages added to his costume. And there's no mistaking that he's terrifying. He tends to look unassuming, slow moving and quiet and then making sudden, unpredictable movements that always send people screaming. His old roaming partner is definitely not here. Courfeyrac suspects she didn't get rehired, after the hammer incident. She was kind of boring, kept to herself, so he's not too heartbroken about it. Next to him is a smaller Asian kid he doesn't recognize. Then there's Enjolras, who was with Fear house last year. Courfeyrac has a hunch that he won't be there this year, though. Looking around and seeing that the guy who played the park's mascot last year isn't here, he is pretty sure he's right on that hunch that Enjolras got asked to play their mascot, a skeletal man in a top hat who gets to go anywhere he wants in the park. It's the coolest job of them all, because people know Slim, go looking for him. He's the character on most of their advertisements. Enjolras will kill the role.

He gets a nudge in the side. Oops, his turn to read. Cheeks only a little pink, he speeds through a paragraph on costume care without missing a beat.

It takes forever, but they finally get through the employee booklet. They now all know what to do if there's a fire, or if they're late, or if a portal to hell opens up. They are prepared. They have also filled out a bunch of forms, although since Courfeyrac is a returning employee, he has to fill out less than some. This means he gets to lean back in his chair and stretch, and then elbow Combeferre, who is sitting next to him and also done his forms.

"So, where are you this year?"

Combeferre indulges in a small smile. "I'm surprised you waited so long to ask. That shows some real restraint."

Courfeyrac sticks his tongue out at his friend, just to prove how much restraint he has. "Come on, I'll tell you if you tell me."

Combeferre pushes his glasses up. "You've been drawing little stick demons and skeletons on every page of your booklet, so I think I might already have a good idea of who you're being."

Oh. Busted. He makes a little chirping noise and smiles. "I'm the Tree Witch! I'm so excited, I get to make bird noises."

"Congratulations," says Combeferre, charmingly sincere. "I'm in the Mansion, this year."

Courfeyrac sits up, letting his chair fall to all fours with a loud bang. "You got Luther? Congrats! That's awesome!" Combeferre had mentioned his interest in the role last year, as he and Courfeyrac were getting into costume on one of the last nights. They had both been in Fear, with Enjolras, and while the boogeyman were fun, they were not the most verbal. Combeferre had a fascination for facts, of all sorts, and he knew all kinds of bizarre, creepy trivia, that would be perfect if he were playing something with more of a mouth. Alas, the boogeyman masks were not made for talking clearly, so he couldn't put the facts to good use. "They'd work well for Luther," Courfeyrac had suggested, and the other boy's face had practically lit up. Luther was the head of the family that occupied the Mansion.

"It should be lively, yes."

Seeing as Lucifer was the only character in Mansion who is alive at all, this earns Combeferre a snicker. Courfeyrac knows some people think Combeferre is too quiet, or standoffish, but he knows better. Combeferre is bitingly clever and knows at least a little bit about everything. He likes insects and puns and has a collection of both. He had been an amazing roaming partner, last year, and Courfeyrac will miss him, even though Marius seems like he'll be interesting, too.

Courfeyrac nudges him. "If you had to leaf me, at least it's for Mansion."

Combeferre snorts, which Courfeyrac counts as a victory. "That was a terrible pun."

"I hope you know I'm going to make tree puns all season. Just for you."

"So thoughtful." A pause. "Barking mad, but thoughtful."

He missed his haunt friends. So much.

Once Musichetta has all the forms in, she stands up, smiling. "Awesome. I know that's all long, but it's necessary. Now, for the fun parts."

Courfeyrac would argue that the real fun parts are still a little ways away, because he knows the last half hour will be improv work, but right now it's character and house stuff, which is more fun than rules and the exact number of steps you can be away from your partner at all times, but it's not improv.

"So, I'm going to go through the houses and their characters. When I say your house, you can stand up and introduce yourself, too. First off, Mansion."

Combeferre stands up. So too does Eponine, across the table from them, and a small blonde girl Courfeyrac doesn't know.

"Mansion is our oldest house. It also has the biggest backstory, it's in your booklets so I'm not going to read all of it. Long story short, Luther was a doctor, when his wife and unborn child died, he tried to bring them back, your milage may vary on the results." This gets a laugh, as Musichetta had intended. "There's a full set of characters in the house, the family as well as various people they've killed who have joined them over the years. We also have the family roaming outside the house. These are the only characters that are both in house and roaming, so they have a bit more in terms of concrete personalities. Luther-" Combeferre does a little wave. "-is a brilliant but broken scientist. He's obsessive and in the hunt to bring his family back he's lost all of his humanity. Nora is his wife, she used to be sweet and kind but she came back wrong, violent and unpredictable. And Ella is their child, cruel and inhuman. She sees people as her playthings." The girl Courfeyrac doesn't know looks excited at that part, and Courfeyrac doesn't blame her. Ella is such a cool role. "Do you guys want to introduce yourselves?"

Combeferre nods. "I'm Combeferre, playing Luther. This will be my second year here."

Eponine goes next, with a little wave. "Eponine. I'll be Nora. I was her last year, too. This is my second year."

"And I'm Cosette! I'll be Ella. It's my first year, it's nice to meet you all!"

The Mansion roamers sit.

Next is Darkness, and Courfeyrac jumps up, beaming. Darkness has no cool backstory, not really. They're demons and creatures of the dark. Nuff said.

"Hello everyone, I'm Courfeyrac! Third year scaring, first year Tree Witch!"

Marius stands, almost knocks over his chair, stumbles over his name, and looks relieved to sit down again.

Courfeyrac was right about Bossuet being in Asylum again. Joining him is the boy who was sitting next to him, who stands up with the help of a cane and introduces himself as Joly. Asylum is an abandoned mental hospital, where the patients and the doctors are no longer distinguishable. Their roamer characters don't have names, they actually get to pick from a selection of masks and outfits, which is kinda rad, in Courfeyrac's opinion. The masks not used go to the actors in-house. Joly is beaming at Bossuet, who tops Marius by actually knocking his chair over. Watching those two work together will be... Interesting.

Carnevil goes next. Carnevil is clowns and neon colours that swim in front of your eyes. Carnevil is the house that scares Courfeyrac the most, although he will never admit it out loud. You put on 3D glasses before you go in, and so it's hard to tell what is moving and what is the 3D effect. It makes it very easy to be snuck up on. Jehan and Bahorel are their clowns, of course. Courfeyrac shivers. That house is going to be absolutely terrifying, this year.

Fear House rounds out the introductions. A house of phobias, each room another nightmare. So of course their roamers are the boogeymen. Feuilly is Swirl, Montparnasse Slits. Courfeyrac had been Swirl last year, and he doesn't envy Feuilly, who is also a first year. That mask is heavy. Montparnasse he eyes with suspicion. He's the one who kept being too far away from his partner, last year. It caused a lot of problems, for him as well as for Jehan, the partner in question. He makes a note to warn Feuilly of Montparnasse's tendency to do that, sometime between now and their first night.

Fear also has the Coffin Maker, who Enjolras played last year. The Coffin Maker is special in that he doesn't have to stay with the other Fear roamers. Instead, he has a little hut, and a coffin outside of it. The Coffin Maker is a fan favorite, hilarious and spine-tingling in turn. A guy named Grantaire is playing him. He looks oddly familiar, although Courfeyrac can't place him.

"I technically worked here two years ago, but not last year. So it's my second year, I guess."

Well, that explains the familiarity, although Courfeyrac can't remember what house the man had been in.

Enjolras gets to introduce himself. On top of being the 'Face of Fright Nights,' Slim is there to keep an eye on all of them, and the actors in-house as well.

"And if you ever have a concern, and don't want to talk about it with your supervisor, or they're not around, you can come to me. It's what I'm here for. For you."

Only Enjolras could make that sound inspiring. Courfeyrac's not the only one to suddenly sit up straighter.

Then comes more talk of safety, of incidents that happened last year and how to stop them from happening this year ("no prop hammers!"). And then, finally, they get to stand up and actually do some work.

Musichetta walks them through a proper scare, where to approach, from what side, what to do if someone tries to touch you. "Which they will do," Musichetta promises. "It's not an 'if', it's a 'when'." After they've all shown off proper scare technique, with Courfeyrac making mental notes of all his favorites, he's practically bouncing in place.

"Okay, last thing. Skits." Which is met with a cheer and a scramble to grab one of the prompts Musichetta is handing out. Him and Marius get 'babysitting,' and they huddle in a corner to discuss a game plan. As soon as there is acting to be done, Marius' nervous air seems to vanish, and he actually seems to be having fun, once they run through their scene a few times. Courfeyrac discovers that he and Marius play off each other wonderfully, which is the best news he's gotten all day. When Musichetta calls them back in, they elect to go first, and soon they have the room in stitches, as Marius's demon complains about how stealing a baby's soul is a lot more trouble than it's worth, while Courfeyrac suggests various pruning options for such an annoying weed. It's more funny than scary, yes, but their jobs are to entertain, and the rest of their cast looks suitably so.

Combeferre, Eponine, and Cosette turn a family road trip into a journey through the most Haunted Places in America (which Courfeyrac is sure Combeferre didn't even need to look up, he probably has them memorized), looking for a satisfactory summer home while their trunk slowly fills with bodies. Montparnasse and Feuilly act as nightmares that Grantaire tries to describe to an invisible therapist. As the bogeymen slowly close in to end the skit, Courfeyrac has goosebumps up his arms, and he's not the only one shivering. Jehan and Bahorel have to attempt to go shopping, although they end up with more entrails than they know what to do with, and decide to busk for brains instead. And Bossuet and Joly must defuse a bomb, to finish them all off. This skit actually gets some screams, when in the end the bomb goes off and Joly's foot goes flying.

"Holy shit," Grantaire states, looking at the fake foot in his hand. "Holy shit."

Joly is bright red and beaming. "I can take that back, now." He sits down, and slips the fake foot and shoe back over the end of his prosthetic. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."

He gets a standing ovation, and rightly so.

They end training with a reminder that there is a promo night coming up, and they can sign up for that if they so choose, and then they are done until the beginning of October. It's only two weeks away, but Courfeyrac knows these weeks will drag, going slower just to spite him and his excitement.

Jehan walks out with him, a spring in their step.

"I think," they say, quiet enough that Courfeyrac has to lean into them to hear. "this might just be the best year yet."

Courfeyrac laughs. There's a buzzing of anticipation in his limbs that will carry him through the whole season. He closes his eyes for a moment, and he's there, in the dark, in those few minutes between getting into costume and waiting for the park to open, breathing in the nerves and the fear. This is why Halloween is his favourite time of year. And it all starts today.

"Know what? I think you're right."


End file.
